


Homecoming

by enterprisecat



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Fix-It of Sorts, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, More tags to be added, Most likely I mean, Multi, My take on Endgame, Nebula and Valkyrie are baddass, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, POV Alternating, Panic Attacks, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rocket is a fucking genius, Steve & Tony reunion, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, Torture, Typical Canon Violence, Vaginal Sex, Whump, also they curse, mentioned alcoholism, my god, where this story is going, with bigger amount of blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-04 17:07:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18348011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enterprisecat/pseuds/enterprisecat
Summary: “Question,” Tony raises his head from where he is working on the left arm of the suit, the design spread in front of him in holograms, piece of actual equipment laying scattered on the desk. Carol took a closer look on the holograms after entering the workshop, collectively called the “Tony’s realm”, fascinated by technology and the mind behind it. As far as she can tell, he is playing around with the design to make it more durable.“So,” Tony continues after examining one of the parts more closely, with a frown on his face. “You and Fury. Did he use the pager to constantly complain how horrible we all are?”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, dear Readers. This story is loosely connected with my Floating in Space mini-series but the only thing that you need to know before reading is that our awesome Valkyrie helped Tony and Nebula escape their certain death.  
> I'm not sure what I'm doing, to be perfectly honest, I haven't written that much in forever. Any responses are warmly welcomed, as well as suggestions - the story I have in my head is a mere draft that can be updated and changed at any time.  
> Without further ado - enjoy!

Pepper dreamt about this moment many times since Tony’s disappearance.

In her dreams Tony was kissing and hugging her, promising to never, ever, leave her again but he wasn’t feeling right – the familiar warmth of his body was replaced with sickish cold. She could feel her hand getting wet where they rested on Tony’s back and when she checked them, they were stained in blood. Or he was turning into dust, disappearing like half of the humanity right in her hug and Pepper couldn’t stop it, couldn’t do anything and had to let the wind take her Tony away from her.

Now he’s here, almost crushing her with the strength of his hug, but she welcomes it because that proves he’s really _here._ Living and breathing, in his own body.

Tired, too thin, his skin grey with dirt and exhaustion but _alive_.

Pepper forces herself not to cry. Tony’s emotions are so raw, she cannot add another brick to the wall of feelings. They would go under them and there’s not time for that. Tony needs to be examined by a doctor, they need to accommodate his companions and Pepper…

Pepper needs to tell him about Peter.

Tony is clinging to her, breathing deeply. He hadn’t said anything since stepping out from the spaceship, apart from the choked “Pepper!” and she is starting to worry that he is hurt more than he looks.

She steps back, not wanting to break their connections but the desire to check Tony, to make him talk, is stronger. Tony resists for a moment, but finally let’s her go, observing her with weary eyes as if she could disappear on him any second.

“Tony,” Pepper forces herself to focus. “Are you ok?”

It’s a stupid question, all things considered, but she knows Tony will understand the meaning behind it. He is definitely too thin and exhausted but there are no apparent damages to his body. Bruce will need to examine him further to confirm if they are dealing with anything worse than some malnutrition and general weariness.

Tony takes another deep breath. Ever since he left the ship, he seems to be tasting the air rather than simply breathing it.

“I’m…. I’m happy to be here.”

It’s more of a non-answer but at least he’s aware and responsive.

“How are you? The others?” Tony finally looks past her and the little crowd standing away from them, giving the much needed space. Tony’s companions are standing with them.

“Rhodey,” there’s so many feelings in his voice, an immense relief on his face. “What about Happy?!”

“He’s in New York right now,” Pepper says quietly. “He’s been an enormous help all the time, organizing everything.”

Tony’s breath of relief is clearly visible.

Pepper swallows nervously. This is the time she needs to utter the words that can potentially destroy her beloved.

“Tony…”

He focuses on her immediately, alarmed by her tone of voice.

“Many people have still the “missing” status,” Pepper starts gently. She’s not sure she is physically capable of saying that out aloud. “Some of them really got lost in the total chaos that ensued right after Thanos’s snap and they were coming back home days later. The number of those people is getting smaller with every day, though…” she pauses, unsure how to continue.

“May… May Parker got in touch with a couple of hours after all of this happened. Peter… Peter was going on a school trip that very day and… His friends from the class, no one has seen him and there are some survivors, only Peter isn’t answering his phone and…”

Tony closes his eyes, his face even more ashen.

“Tony,” Pepper touches his hand, unsure what to do. He looks as if he could topple over any time now.

“I know, Pepper,” his voice is filled with regret and crushing sadness. “Peter… He was with me. Sneaked on the Thanos’s ship in fact. When Thanos…”

His grip is bound to leave bruises on her hand, but she doesn’t care. She’s never seen him suffer so much, the pain of lost visible in every ne wrinkle on his face, in the great shadows under his eyes.

“He is dead, Pepper. Peter is dead.”

There are tears on his cheeks now.

“He turned into dust in my arms and I couldn’t stop it, Pepper, I couldn’t do anything but hold him until it was over. He trusted me and I betrayed him, didn’t… I wasn’t…”

“It’s not your fault!” Pepper protests and she needs to get Tony in to the compound, otherwise he’s going to fall over on the grass, the weight of his pain and guilt too heavy for anyone to carry.

She turns slightly into the direction of others. Bruce is thankfully looking at them, doctor’s instincts making him ready to act when needed. He catches her eyes and gives a small nod, hurrying toward them with Rhodey.

“Tony,” his voice is gentle. For sure he can see that Tony is on the verge of collapsing – either into a severe panic attack or loosing consciousness. “It’s so good to see you.”

Rhodey simply and silently crushes Tony with a hug, giving him the so much needed support.

“Let’s take you to the building, we all need to sit down, have you all checked. You had a hell of a journey from what Nebula says.”

Pepper is grateful for Rhodey’s calmness. He has always had a good influence over Tony and Pepper herself feels to emotional right now to be able to support Tony.

She takes a deep breath, steadying herself.

Peter Parker is dead.

If it’s so painful for her, she cannot imagine how awful Tony must be feeling right now. They got so close, ever since Tony has stopped his “I don’t care” act and ended pretending that he doesn’t treat Peter like a son. She encouraged it fully, happy to see Tony creating close relationships aside from her and Happy.

Rhodey and Bruce practically tow Tony between the two of them.

Steve Rogers starts walking towards them as they pass the group and Pepper stops, consciously covering this view from Tony. She’s aware he must have seen Rogers after they landed the ship, but it’s not something they should be dealing with right now. The list of things to deal with later is so long that adding yet another item to the list won’t harm them much.

“Virginia,” Rogers doesn’t try to omit her but is looking past her shoulder, apparently trying to catch a better view of Tony. “Is he alright?”

“As much as he can be given the situation,” Pepper says coldly. “I am sure that there will be time and place for a longer conversation after Tony is examined and has time to rest.”

Having Rogers here, after all that happened is somewhat comforting. He can be a good leader, Pepper knows that much. Rhodey doesn’t seem to be against him, even though a conflict caused by this man crippled him. Pepper suspects Rhodey would behave differently, had he seen Tony right after the fight in Siberia. Tony’s convalesce was parallel to Rhodey’s, who, most of the time, was on a great dose of painkillers., not always in touch with the reality, going through three operations in a row. Pepper never told him the story Tony whispered to her in parts, during the long nights of insomnia interlaced with nightmares. It was too personal, and if Tony wanted to share it with anyone else it was his choice and his choice alone.

She couldn’t look at Rogers the same way after that, no matter what he did and how acted. Right now she wanted him as far away from Tony as possible.

Her face has to say that much because Rogers takes a step back and nods his head.

“I understand.”

“Thank you,” Pepper acknowledges his agreement shortly and follows Tony inside. She is vaguely aware that the group behind them is going inside as well, and that there are two unknown to her women. She needs to take care of that as well, learn who they are, what are their names, welcome them…

Tomorrow. Once she knows that there is no internal bleeding that could kill Tony any minute now, when she knows that both his and her emotions are under that much control that they can achieve, when she truly believes that Tony is back, alive.

She enters the examination room, watching Rhodey hesitate in the doors, seemingly torn between giving Tony privacy and not wanting to lose a sight of him. Pepper understands that perfectly, only she is not leaving the room even if Thanos himself was dragging her away.

She needs to _know._

“Lay down,” Bruce asks after Tony has taken off the shirt, revealing his chest.

Pepper exhales loudly. There’s an ugly, half-healed wound on his side, looking like a result of being stabbed with a sharp object.

“Thanos,” Tony explains shortly, and Pepper needs to sit down right now, feeling weak in the knees. Had Thanos aimed a little higher, they wouldn’t be having this conversation. It was close, too close.

She breathes deeply and focuses back on Tony, who patiently responds to Bruce’s questions. He’s thinner than Pepper originally has thought, his ribcage too prominent, skin dry.

Bruce fusses over the wound and Pepper forces herself the relax the tense muscles in her body. Tony is in good hands, Bruce will make sure to examine every inch of his body to ensure his health.

She closes her eyes, feeling exhausted. She wishes she could sleep for a couple of days, not dreaming about people changing into nothing more than dust.

She can hear Bruce’s low voice, explaining every action he’s taking, announcing every next step. Tony’s responses are quiet and short, but she cannot hear any signs of incoming panic attack. They managed to at least delay the emotional outburst.

“Pepper,” Bruce stands next to her with a tired smile. “He’s fine. The wound is healing nicely, there are no other serious damages. Lot’s of bruises, he needs to eat well and rest a lot, but we aren’t risking any lasting physical damage.”

The wave of relief is even greater that Pepper could anticipate.

“Thank you,” she says warmly and squeezes his hand.

Tony has put on his shirt already and gives her a small, reassuring smile.

“Food, sleep or a bath?” Pepper asks feeling stronger now, when she can take control of the situation without fear that Tony is in a mortal danger.

“Bath,” Tony says without thinking. “I _smell._ I had no idea you can reach this level that quickly.” He sounds a little more like himself as he says it, the desperate edge subdued.

“Bath it is then,” Pepper leads him through corridors as if he wasn’t the one deciding on the interior design and opens the door to her… their apartment. She hasn’t changed a place of a single thing that Tony put there. Even one of his shirts is still laying on a chair, waiting for its owner to come back and take care of it.

Tony steps out from his dirty clothes as soon as she closes the door behind them.

“We should burn them,” he says with a disgust and goes to the bathroom. Pepper decides to leave the pile of clothes for now. Just another item on the to do list.

Tomorrow. She will do it all tomorrow.

Tony is examining himself in the mirror.

“Lots to be fixed,” he says without turning back. “I doubt the make up kit can make it this time.”

Pepper smiles. “You looked worse for press conferences and I was always able to make you perfect.”

She turns on the water. Tony is still looking into the mirror but somehow, she doubts he can see his reflection at all.

“The company?” he asks finally. Pepper shakes her head silently. She did expect the question but still doesn’t have an answer ready.

“I don’t know,” she admits now. “Earth is no longer as it was before. I don’t believe anyone knows how to deal with what happened when economy is concerned. Officially – we are still here. Around ¾ of the board is here. We haven’t lost most of our scientific department as well. Some employees are still uncounted for, with no witness that could tell us what happened with them, some… are gone. Tony, the whole world… It has changed. Forever. Truthfully, we are lucky. People were too shocked, too traumatized to start any riots and apart from those taken by Thanos and does who were killed in accidents that happened in the result we mostly didn’t have any casualties.”

Tony nods his head.

“Tony,” she gently touches a big bruise blossoming on his right blade. “We’ll tell you everything. We have reports, analysis, anything you might want to know but let’s do this tomorrow, ok?”

He turns to her and gently touches her cheek. He must be able to tell that she’s crying but Pepper is unable to stop it anymore.

“Today… Today just let us be together and let the rest of the world wait.”

He only kisses her gently in response.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Tony feels exhausted.

No, scratch that – Tony is exhausted.

Neither he nor Pepper got too much sleep that night, both longing for each other company.

Tony closes his eyes. He can hear Pepper moving in the room behind the closed bathroom door, but he can’t help but reply in his mind every single moment, every word, every touch from the night. He used to do it when drifting through the space with Nebula. It grounded him, gave the oh so needed hope that let him go through every next second and not give up.

Pepper tracing the outline of his ribs and the wound on his side with her fingers, breath hitching in her throat. Pepper kissing his aching left hand, impossibly gentle.

“Does it hurt now?” she whispered, caressing the skin with tips of the fingers.

“Yes,” Tony admits. Ever since Thanos’s servants appeared on Earth his left hand went from overall aching and occasional shots of pain to constant burn. He must have had injure it even further.

He flexes his fingers now and looks in the mirror. He’s cleaner, the smudges of dirt gone from his face but the ashen tinge to the skin is still there, even more prominent in the sunlight.

A small part of him wishes he could go back to bed and sleep, without dreams, without remembering what has happened. The rest of him wants to go and fight, murder with cold blood any and every Thanos’s ally.

Both options are out of question now. He needs to learn more about the present situation of Earth, get an insight into the battle in Wakanda Pepper has mentioned during the night, make sure that Nebula and Valkyrie are being treated as they should and…

Yes. Talk with Steve Rogers.

Tony forces his memories not to go back to Siberia. That event is locked deep in his memory, never to be opened. Not if Tony is supposed to work with Rogers.

Rogers’s shield flashes for a second in his mind when Pepper opens the door.

“Hey,” she says gently. She’s ready, in her “I’m the boss here” jacket and suit pants combo. He’s always admired her ability to look composed and rested in the most stressful situations, she just needed a minute to compose herself and there she was, immaculate and professional Virginia Potts.

“Hey,” he answers and reaches for her, carefully not to wrinkle the material. “Have anyone told you recently how beautiful you are?”

Her smile is sad. “Without you around I don’t suffer from abundance of compliments.”

“Then we need to work on that,” Tony knows that his cheerful tone sounds unconvincing, but he needs to get into right mood to be able to leave this room and face the reality. Pepper seems to understand that, as she forces more joyous smile and kisses him.

“We’ll find time to that,” she promises.

***

Tony stops in the doorframe, having a weird déjà vu moment for just a second. There are too many differences for it to last long. Thor is sitting next to Valkyrie, his hair cut short, face looking older than ever. Natasha’s hair is tied – he’s never seen her doing that before. There are silvery gray strands in Bruce’s hair, he hasn’t noticed there’s so many of them yesterday. Even Rogers looks older, more tired than the last time Tony saw him. There’s also a racoon sitting next to Nebula and eying at him suspiciously. Clint Burton is lurking in the shadows, as if he didn’t want Tony to notice him.

“A committee,” Tony makes a step inside, plastering a smile on his face. “Isn’t that nice.”

Rhodey makes a face from where he’s seated. Natasha stands up and rushes toward him. Her hug is strong, a surprising show of affection that Tony didn’t expect but welcomes anyway. He’s always had a soft spot for her after all.

“It’s good to see you, Stark” she says with a smile.

“The same,” Tony returns with a smile of his own and turns to the rest. “Anyone else interested in hugging me? No? Well, it was a onetime offer.”

For a moment it looks like Rogers might say something and Tony almost wants him to. A flash of anger raises within him, but he forces it down and Rogers remains silent.

“Well then,” Tony walks to the table. “Judging by the picture, you already know the two amazing warriors that saved me life. More than once, actually. Apologies for not introducing you yesterday.”

Valkyrie rolls her eyes and even Nebula gives him a short look when the room enters a blond-haired woman and looks around, seemingly surprised.

“Carol Danvers,” she extends her hand to Tony. “I believe it was your spaceship I saw yesterday.”

Tony shakes her hand automatically. “Tony Stark. And yes, I believe you’re right.”

She gives him a short smile. “I’m happy to see you alive, there was lot of discussions about you and the chances of your survival going around.”

Tony nods his head automatically and wordlessly observes as she turns to Rogers.

“I told you it wasn’t Thanos.” There is impatience in her voice, as if she was repeating herself for the countless time. “It was a waste of my time.”

“We cannot be sure what to expect, you said it yourself,” Rogers answers quietly.

“Yes, but I meant humanity when saying that and you know it,” Carol turns back to Tony. “What is the plan then? How much do you know?”

The rest of the day is filled with statistics, facts and information. Anything and everything they have on casualties and survivors, current political scene, access to food and water…

It’s both worse and better than Tony suspected. Their food supplies are limited but far from ending. The main social problem is the total apathy – in most places in the whole world people have chosen to gather into communities and while it allows their survival for now, doesn’t give a promising view of the future. All scientific experiments and science development in general are put on a break, with people focusing more on trying to piece their lives together. Schools are closed. Most hospitals are understaffed. Only few power stations are currently working, though it’s one of the priorities. People are afraid that one attack might have not been enough, and Tony agrees – half of the Universe might have disappeared, but hostile alien races are still out there, and what might be a better time to attack than when Earth is weakened? The unity is comforting though, violence and criminal behaviors are rare, with general tendency to provide help and assistance.

All the reports seem to confirm that Thanos was true to his words – half of the humanity is gone.

When dinner time comes Tony feels vaguely sick, whole body reminding him that he was stabbed and almost killed and haven’t got a chance to get a proper rest and relax ever since. He sneaks out of the room, tired beyond anything he has felt in his life, and goes outside.

Even considering the compound location is uncharacteristically dark, the usual city’ glow almost completely gone from the sky. He takes a deep breath, newly learnt information flying through his mind in never ending spiral. Partially he wishes Pepper was with him, partially he is happy to be left alone and have time to gather his thoughts.

Truth is, he is lost. He knows that Nebula is yet to reveal the details of his survival and Strange’s sacrifice of the Time Stone. Once it happens, and happen it will, Tony needs to be able to decide about the course of action, or at least have some input on that topic.

A flare of pain goes through his left arm. Tony lest himself half-sit, half-fall on the grass.

He doesn’t need to turn back to know who just decided to search for him. He hasn’t learnt to recognize those steps while floating hopelessly through the emptiness of space. Nebula folds herself next to him, looking ahead.

“It’s a nice planet,” she says conversationally. “Much nicer than I expected.”

Tony sighs. The stars look unusually bright without the light pollution in the air.

“I don’t know where to start. I don’t have the slightest idea. I was supposed to die,” he looks at her, desperate. “Each time, when I was sure that’s it, this is the end of my mostly worthless life, somebody was there to save me. Somebody was always doing the one thing I’m so horrible at. Do you know that Pepper actually died? Right in front of me. Fell down a couple of stores, into fire… and then she saved my life. Nebula…. I cannot defeat Thanos if I don’t even know where to start.”

Nebula is silent for a moment, letting the light wind caress her skin.

“I always did everything alone,” she finally says, thoughtful. “I considered others as an unneeded burden, rather than help. Gamora… she tried to change that. Remember, on Titan, when we all cooperated with each other, we almost did it. We almost took the outlet off his hand.”

She turns to him. In the dusk the mechanical parts of her body aren’t that visible, and she looks more human than ever. “I still believe you will play a vital part in defeating Thanos, but now I understand that you will not do it alone. All those people?” she indicates to the compound with her head. “They are here for a reason.”

She stands up, swiftly and extends her hand. Tony wishes he had so much strength right now and accepts the offered help. The voices of people gathered in the canteen grow louder as they come closer to the building. Pepper smiles to him with relief as they enter and ushers him onto the chair.

Tony takes a long look on people gathered around the table. They are tired and hurt but determined.

 _Maybe Nebula is right_ , he thinks and with newfound appetite takes a bite of his meal.

 


	3. Chapter Three

Steve cannot remember the last time falling asleep included only going into bed and closing his eyes. Ever since SHIELD returned him to life, falling asleep became a complicated process, including unwanted thoughts and memories battling for domination in his mind and a great amount of position changes. 

It got only worse since Tony has appeared. With him around Steve no longer can deny the guilt he's feeling, image of a bruised Tony in non-functioning suit forever burned in his memory.

Steve sees him every day now, during meals and meetings, passing him in corridors but in those four days he didn't get a chance to speak with him privately, without Pepper appearing out of nowhere.

Around 2 AM Steve has enough. He’s been tossing and turning for the last three hours, unable to fall asleep but too tired to get up.

He thinks about a work-out but quickly dismisses this thought. His muscles are too tense to get any pleasure from exercising, and he doesn't feel up to it anyway. 

He does leave the bed but the room seems too small, a confined space, trapping him inside his head.

The compound is dark and strangely quiet for the amount of people living in it. Steve wonders through the corridors like a ghost or a stalker until he reaches Pepper's apartament.

She told him to call her Virginia, during their first conversation after Siberia.

After he almost killed the love of her life and left him on the ground, defeated with a broken suit.

He is still surprised she wanted to talk with him at all. 

There's light seeping through the door and Steve needs to stifle the urge to knock. 

Tony Stark is there, alive. The man that Steve tried to hate but couldn't help but mourn for. He can see how uncomfortable Stark feels around him and all day tried not to impose. He kept quiet when Tony was speaking and spoke only when asked. It didn't stop him from observing and analysing. There are new lines on Stark's face, his skin hinged with gray. There were moments today when Steve was afraid Stark would collapse. At those times Pepper was always quick to our her arm around him, in a seemingly sweet gesture of love.

Steve isn't sure if Stark is ill or whether his fight with Thanos and the experienced loss are taking their toll. 

It's nonsensical, too stand in front of a closed door in the middle of the night. Tomorrow he'll be dead on his feet. He shakes his head, angry at himself, when the door suddenly opens.

Bruce Banner startles visibly. No wonder, no one expects to see someone standing in a dark corridor during night.

“Jesus, Steve,” Bruce shakes już head. “What you are doing here?”

“Who's that?” Pepper comes closer, tightening the cover of a woolen sweater worn on pyjamas. Steve takes a quick look past her. Tony is sitting on a chair, holding his left wright. He catches his gaze, just for a moment, before Pepper closes off his view.

“Steve? I mean captain Rogers,” Pepper smoothly corrects herself. “What you are doing here at 3 AM?!”

“I…” Steve hesitates. Truly, there’s no good explanation for his presence right here, right now.  _ I couldn't sleep so I was playing a stalker and wondering what you both are doing with lights on,  _ sounds awful even in his head.

“I couldn’t sleep,” is what he settles for. Which doesn't explain why he was standing behind their closed door.

“Is Tony fine? Why Bruce was here?”

Pepper’s face changes, surprise turning into stone. “I appreciate your concern, but it's a personal matter. You may want to speak with Bruce about your 8troubles with sleeping on your way back to the room. Goodnight.”

She closes the door before Steve can react do he turns to Bruce, who shrugs.

“Pepper is right, it is a personal matter,” he looks at him, his hair so much grayer. He looks as tired as Steve feels. “I can assure you, though, that he's fine, all things considered.”

Bruce gestures toward the hall and Steve starts walking. Their rooms are adjacent and they shouldn't spend the rest of the night standing in an empty corridor.

“With his armor,” Bruce continues, “I think we often forget that he’s fully human. No serum in his vein giving him super strength or quicker healing.”

Bruce sighs. “I don't know what happened between the two of you. Rhodey told me, of course, the general route of events but I don't believe anyone but the two of you know what really happened. Maybe Pepper. So… I’m not going to judge any of you. I just want to remind you how good you were as a team.”

They stop in front of Bruce's room.

“We could use a team like that now, you know.” The smile Bruce gives him is warm and real. “Goodnight.”

***

Steve yawns, looking at a piece of a toast on his plate.

He woke up late, with an almost a headache lurking on the edges of his brain.

At first he pays no attention to the person that enters the kitchen, but a muttered  _ Where the hell is coffee  _ catches his attention.

It's Tony.

Steve feels frozen to his chair. He wanted, still wants to talk with Tony, to be able if not explain himself, then at least to ensure they can cooperate without Tony behaving like a deer in flashlights each time Steve addresses him personally. His mind is empty, thought, a mostly sleepless night not helping his creativity.

Tony fights with the coffee machine, cursing and muttering under his breath. His left hand is trembling slightly - water splashes on the counter. It's when Steve stands up.

“Let me,” he takes the water container from Tony’s hand who seemingly stops breathing for a moment. 

“Rogers…” he shakes his head. “Thank you. Black, if you could.”

It's the weirdest feelings, to make coffee for a miraculously alive Tony Stark. Steve went through many possible scenarios for their first conversation after Siberia, even before the snap, but none of them included a coffee machine and way too many spoons of sugar.

Tony is constantly shifting in his chair but stays in the kitchen, waiting for the promised drink.

“Thank you,” he says quietly when Steve puts the mug in front of him. He takes a sip, with a sigh of pleasure Steve easily recognizes. Tony always behaved around coffee like a drug addict taking his first dosage of the day. At least that hasn’t changed.

“So, I couldn't help but notice you lurking in the shadows this night.” Tony starts conversationally as if Steve wasn't close to killing him the last time they had a proper interaction. 

“Tony, I…”

Stark puts the mug down, a little harder than necessary. 

“Do you believe we can defeat Thanos?”

Steve frowns, disoriented by the sudden change of topic. 

“I believe we don't have any choice on that matter and I'm ready to do anything to defeat him,” he says carefully but truthfully. 

Tony gives him a humourless smile. “Then we have something in common.”

He takes another sip of the coffee, closing his eyes. “Pepper says I shouldn't drink it until my body fully recovers, but that's about the only thing I won't do for her.”

It can't be that easy. Steve can see himself, using the shield to crush the arc reactor, sees Stark's widening eyes…

“I…” he starts again, desperately. “What I've done…”

Tony's face changes. “Don't,” his voice is low. “I’m not planning on dwelling on the past, at least not when this bastard is still alive, and I strongly advise you to do the same, Rogers.”

Steve nods his head. It won't make it easy for any of them but neither would any apologies.

“Pepper told me about Barnes,” Tony's voice loses the threatening edge. “I am sorry, truly. Losing your loved ones… It’s never easy. I cannot imagine how it must feel to lose them for a second time.”

He stands up, with the coffee mug in his hand. Steve stands as well, instinctively catching him by the arm, only to immediately take his hand back.

“Thank you,” he says warmly. “And Tony? We will do it. As  a team.”

This time Tony's smile is real.

 


	4. Chapter 4

“This little baby here,” Rocket strokes a part of the ship affectionately. “It's essentially a one-way escape pod. A really fucking expensive one, you got lucky, actually. But, if we want to take her anywhere, she needs to get some serious upgrades.”

It currently resides in one of the mostly empty hangars, looking crazily small for a vehicle that transported three humanoid beings from a middle of the galaxy. Tony swallows, forcing himself not to think about this particular little fact in his biography. 

He is currently leaning on the door frame, his arms crossed, looking with scepticism. The ship, or rather an escape pod, looks a little fried on the edges, the sleek black metal eaten away by the heat of flying through the Earth atmosphere. Tony swallows again, feeling vaguely sick. He hasn’t come down here before, didn’t want to see it, afraid of his reaction. 

“Okay,” he acknowledges finally, because Rocket remains stubbornly silent after giving his little speech. “Upgrades, fine, but what I am doing here?”

Rocket stops caressing the pod and shoots him an incredulous look.

“Dude, you joking, right?” Tony would never expect to be able to so easily read emotions from a racoon’s muzzle. Rocket is positively flabbergasted, practically vibrating with impatience. “I need this big brain of yours to help make this beauty into something that can take us anywhere in the freaking Galaxy and kill this motherfucker.”

The sick feeling raises in his stomach. Tony cannot go back to Titan, not yet, he cannot see their failure, at least not in front of someone who isn’t Pepper.

He swallows once again, feeling the bitterness of bile. His frame of mind must translate into his face, as Rocket is squinting at him with suspicion.

“I know shit about starships,” he protests, hurriedly, trying to hide his weakness. He is not lying, for many reasons, mainly those that Tony never speaks about, he has never tried to design a spaceship. Let alone upgrade an existing one.

Rocket laughs. It sounds creepy, such a loud noise coming from a small creature. There are tears glistening on his fur, as he breathes heavily through the last spasms of laughter. Tony wonders vaguely why he bothers discussing anything with a talking racoon. Oh, yeah. This racoon is also the most brilliant engineer Tony had a pleasure to meet in his entire life. Fucking annoying, nonetheless. 

“For a genius, you’re a complete moron,” Rocket finally calms down. “I need another genius, you are one, so you need to help me.”

“How can you know that I am a genius?” Tony knows that his line of defence makes no sense as soon as those words leave his mouth and is surprised to see Rocket hesitate.

“Well…” the racoon sighs and swirls screwdriver in his paw. “As it happens...When you were sightseeing the beauties of the galaxy, I may have looked into your workshop.”

“What?” Tone finally leaves his place next to the door, advancing quickly toward Rocket. “You did what?”

Rocket retreats a little bit,touches his arm where his weapon usually resides. “And, well, you probably noticed that the security system is behaving kinda weird… I might have hacked it.”

The workshop’s security system indeed behaved differently, Tony was trying to find the reason and fix it since entering it for the first time after his rescue, with no avail. 

“And see all your projects,” Rocket continues, half-hidden behind the engine. “Dude, they are awesome. Like seriously fucking awesome, you have no idea how sad I was I couldn't discuss them with you.”

There’s a blaster on Tony’s right hand before he even realizes. “You decided to hack a dead man computers,” he says coldly. “And then tell him that after he comes back to living. I would consider it a mistake, if I were you.”

“Shit, fuck” Rocket slowly goes out from his hideout, his fur bristled. “ Why people always say, just be honest, that’s the best way, fucking advices, I’m never gonna listen to this shit again…” He stops murmuring and looks at Tony, his eyes focused mostly on the shining blaster. “Okay, listen, I screwed up, I know. I’m like fully aware how much you hate being spied on, Pepper told me all about. She’s fucking terrifying,” the admiration in his voice is clear as crystal and Tony can’t stop himself from imagining the ginger wrath unleashed upon unsuspecting “upgraded” racoon. Angry Pepper is a vision, unless she’s cross with you, when it’s better to disappear until at least the first stage of her fury passes over. He takes a deep breath, trying to calm down his heart beat, just a little bit.

_ He is not an enemy, didn’t try to use it against you. _

His own anger dissociates slowly, and this time he has a full control over his actions as he makes the blaster disappear from his hand. 

He does hate being spied on but Rocket didn’t do it to steal or ridicule. He was curious, so he did what he always does - took a peak to see a little more of the thing that interested him. Tony saw him doing that for the past two weeks, there’s literally nothing that can stop him from finding out more once he’s hooked. 

Rocket’s fur lays down again, sleek against his body.

“You’re not gonna kill me,” he says with certainty. “ And I will help you fix the security. It was impressive, by the way, the best one I had a pleasure to hack,but I can make it so much better.” His teeth are sharp in a smile, and Tony answers with a smile of his own, despite his better judgment. 

“Show me what we can do,” he says simply, forcing down the anxiety. He’ll worry about flying through space later, for now he can do what he does best - be a mechanic.

 

***

 

When slips to the bed is too early to go to sleep, rather than too late. He hasn’t stayed up for so long since his miraculous return, every night spending with Pepper, talking, sharing, always confirming that the other person is alive and as well as it is possible given the situation.

He feels guilty but the moments he has spent working with Rocket made more relaxed than he felt ever since Thanos’s minions have invaded the Earth. He almost forgot that nothing calms his nerves as well as fixing things. Maybe apart from alcohol, but he doesn’t even want to think about this aspect of his life.

Pepper moves slightly, as he tries to lay down without waking her up, and cracks her eyes open. She’s gorgeous like this; her hair disheveled from changing the position in her sleep, face bare of any make up, sleepy blue eyes filled with slight confusion. The “I am the boss” aura is gone, all the wrinkles caused by stress and worry smoothed, her face relaxed. She looks as she did all those years ago when some HR person brought her to his office and introduced as the new assistant. God, he was so awful to her that day, and many days after. How did she survive that to finally fell in love with him is one of the unsolved mysteries of this world.

Tony sometimes wonders if there’s a way he can explain how important she is to him, how much he appreciates that she stayed with him all those years, taking only a short break. He touches her cheek gently, giving her a small smile.

“Hey,” his voice is low, he doesn’t want to wake her up completely, just to confirm that he is here, and he’s fine. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here in the evening.”

Two days after he came back Pepper whispered to him about lonely nights in an empty bed, the feeling of dread and hopelessness, the inability to sleep. After that he was spending every evening with her in the bed, despite having a different day and night cycle.

“I checked on you through Friday,”she admits quietly. “You looked so busy, and… relaxed. I didn’t want to interrupt that.”

She’s more awake now, scrutinizing him with her eyes, looking hesitant. 

“You were working on a spaceship,” She finally decides. There’s sadness in her voice. 

Tony stretches next to her, trying to cover the flash of panic with a yawn. “I’m not sure if it leads us anywhere,” he admits. “All those discussion, meetings… Pepper, we don’t know what to do. We were too weak to defeat him before, and there’s less than half of us left.” He’s starting to sound desperate, too loud.

He swallows down the fear, and shakes his head. It’s not the place nor time for a such conversation. “I’m sorry.”

Her gentle squeeze of his hand helps him to regain some of the composure. When his heart rate reaches the healthy levels, he turns to her, once again striked by her beauty. He doesn’t deserve her. He knows that, always knew that, and his heart aches.

“God, Pepper,” he breathes. “How do you do that?”

She frowns, confused. “Do what?”

“The world was falling apart, and you were able to get here, and gather all of them under one roof, without any casualties, looking like a CEO all the time. Pepper, they admire you, all of them. Even Rocket, and we already know he has issues with authorities.”

Pepper wants to say something, but he leans toward and kisses her.

His kiss is gentle, at the beginning. They haven’t really had sex since his return, too tired and worried. So much time has passed that he is unsure, so he simply continues the kiss, adding just a little tongue, his right hand still entwined with hers.

He loses control once she bites his lower lips, harder than ever, almost drawing blood. 

“But no one admires you as much as I do,” he whispers, his mouth trailing her neck. He might leave her a bruise, like a highschooler, but he doesn’t care. Her sigh of pleasure are making him bolder, and he moves his hand to her breasts, makes small circles around the nipples, feeling them getting harder and perkier through the sheer material of her pyjama. She circles him with her long legs, pushes at his ass, making him rub against her. He’s getting hard and desperate, only now realizing how much he missed that, missed her,her smooth skin, warm lips, her nails on his back. He wants to be inside her, right now, right here, but also to kiss, caress and licks until she comes hard, making that delightful half-gasp, half-moan. He pauses for a second, unsure.

“Tony,” she moans to his ear, as wanting and desperate as he is. She pushes him off her,and he lets her, watches he yanking her pyjama pants down and throwing them behind them. His boxers joins them mere seconds later, and she straddles him, guides him inside and groans quietly when he enters her. Tony gasps at the familiarity of her, and forces himself not to move. They’re going quickly, too quickly for such a long break, and he doesn’t want to make her hurt, but Pepper doesn’t allow that, setting her rhythm almost immediately, the first quiet groans quickly turning into moaning as she’s getting wetter with every thrust. 

“Pepper, my love, my everything,” Tony isn’t sure if he’s whispering or screaming, he just want her to understand how much he missed her and needs her. She slows down for a moment, kisses him fervently, clings to him with her whole body and Tony knows she’s getting close; she always comes clinging with him, her whole body touching his. Her breath gets faster with every minute, until she moans loudly, shaking slightly as she climaxes at a top of him, the most beautiful creature he has ever seen. With a muffled sigh, she relaxes, laughs quietly to his ear.

“Do whatever you want with me, but don’t make me move anymore,” she whispers breathlessly and Tony grins, rolling her on the back, never pulling out and resumes the hard and quick pace they both so enjoy.

Few more thrusts later, he follows her; feeling her delicate fingers tracing the scars on his back. He moans quietly into her ear, as he finally stops, spent, wet with sweat, breathing hard into her neck.

“I’m not moving,” he warns, trying to catch his breath. Pepper squirms beneath him but lets him lay, as he’s getting soft inside her.

“Yes, you are,” she finally pushes him, gently and he slips out of her, and flops on the covers, tired. He’ll be sore in a couple of hours. Pepper lays beside him for a couple of minutes, simply breathing, their shared silence comfortable and familiar.

She the takes a deep breath and raises to a seating position, caressing his torso, the still too prominent ribs, the outline of the forming scar on his side. Her eyes are sad. 

“I don't know how I survived,” her voice is quiet, uncertain. Tony moves his head to look at her. “I was do scared, I was acting on autopilot, part of me waiting for you to show up, partially certain that this time you have left me for good.”

Sweat is drying out on her skin, and Tony knows how much she hates it, always hopping into a shower right after sex, leaving cuddles for another time.

“Have I ever told how brave you are?” he asks, making her smile again, a small, thankful smile. He missed her smile as well.

“I think you have, in fact,” she stretches and leans toward the bedside cabinet to check the time. “It’s 6.30 AM,” she groans and yawns. “You need to get some sleep. And a shower. Actually, shower is the priority right now.”

“Join me?” Tony has never voiced it, but he’s not a fan of showers. Not since a bunch of terrorists decided that waterboarding is their favorite method of torture. Somehow Pepper knows it, usually keeping him company whenever a bath is out of question. He hasn’t asked for it for a long time, though, able to keep control over the memories - ten years it’s a long time, even for the most traumatic events. Today, he feels vulnerable, too raw to let himself deal with a cascade of water hitting his head.

The smile she gives him this time is sad. “Of course, my love. Of course.”

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

“Question,” Tony raises his head from where he is working on the left arm of the suit. Carol took a closer look on the holograms, fascinated with the technology. The last time she was visiting Earth such electronics either didn’t exist, or where in the first trials. Tony doesn’t stop tinkering with parts creating the gauntlet; he seems to be working on an additional support system.

“So,” Tony continues after a short break, when Carol remains silent.. “You and Fury. Did he use this pager to gossip about us and complain how horrible we are?”

Carol smiles. She best Nick would love to do such a thing, judging by all the reports she has read since landing on Earth.

“I’m sure he wanted to do that on multiple occasion,” Carol moves a little closer, and gestures toward the suit design. “Last time I was on Earth this technology didn’t exist. It’s amazing how much has changed.”

Tony stretches, and grabs his left wrist for a moment, taking a deep breath, before he relaxes again.

“Well, it’s not a typically used technology, more of a custom design,” Tony enlarges one part of the armor with a gesture and checks it, frowning.

Carol nods. Rocket is positive that this man is a genius and tries to hijack him on every possible occasion. Tony doesn’t seem to mind it, working with Rocket for hours to no end, who is absolutely delighted with that possibility.

Tony spends most of the days like this, either in his workshop, or in one of the hangars, upgrading their only available spaceship. The moments he’s not working, he’s practically glued to Pepper, who maneuvers around with well-practiced easiness.   

Carol leans on the desk, next to Tony, careful not to touch any parts of the suit, which lay scattered all around the floor. Tony doesn’t ask why she is here, which Carol ist thankful for, not being certain about it herself.

Once the signal from Nick’s upgraded pager reached her, she basically dropped everything to travel to Earth, knowing that the situation has to be much worse than anything she encountered before.  

Feeling overwhelmed by all the changes she has spent a couple of days catching up with all the events, and Tony Stark’s name appeared frequently in all kinds of media. 

The first image painted by the news wasn’t a flattering one – a reckless billionaire who seemingly didn’t care who is he sleeping with and drank too much alcohol. Once he went missing the tone of articles has changed a little bit, showing the more human part of him - a genius kid, a philanthropist. Still, most people were focusing on the general aura of extravaganza  and the alcohol abuse incidents. 

Once he came back and revealed himself as the Iron Man the image has changed as well, showing him as someone brave and capable of sacrifice, yet hard to believe.

Carol found it hard to accept that the strong, amazing Pepper could be so blinded by someone like him. She has met a fair share of such men in her life after all.

The tired man sitting next to her is nothing like the image she has created in her mind. Still, she needs to know and understand what to expect from this enigma of a man. If they come up with a plan,  _ once _ they have it, Carol has to know all of them well enough to cooperate with them easily and smoothly. After all every single action, every second will count, and she needs to know how this man sitting next to her will behave in a face of danger. A report from a magazine is not enough. 

“How many of those you created?” she makes a wide gesture on the armor that Tony is redesigning.

“Oh, this one is Mark 85,” Tony answers quickly, unfocused.. “I need to make it more durable.  Much more durable.”

He sounds more like talking to himself rather than to Carol at this point. The exhaustion is still painted all over him, in the way he's seated, in the deep lines on his face. Carol heard once that Tony is lucky to have both Pepper and his long time friends surviving Thanos's snap but the pain of a loss is clearly here. 

“Nebula says that you are famous,” Tony changes the position of a small metal plate covering the left wrist and bites his lip. He is finally focused on her, frowning, as if he just realize that her presence is not a typical occurrence. “I need coffee. You want some?” 

“Yes, please,” she answers automatically, intrigued. “Famous how?”

“Oh, you know,” Tony makes a vague gesture with his left hand and with a small grimace turns to the coffee machine. “Like the Avengers used to be, Earth mightiest heroes, all of that, only solo and for various planets. Which sounds much cooler, by the way. Thought Nebula told you that, although, on a second thought she was one of those people you wouldn’t want to see on a planet under your protection.”

He turns with two coffee mugs. One of them has a drawn picture of a ginger cat and Carol cannot help but feel a sting in her heart.

“Sugar?”

Carol shakes her head and accepts the drink with a sad smile.

“Did Fury have a cat?” she asks, surprising herself. She shouldn't dwell on a past, the decision to leave was her and her alone, but it's getting harder every day not to wonder where all of them would be right now, had she made a different call all those years ago.

Tony stares at her with bemused look on his face. “I’m literally the last person you should be asking for details about Fury's private life, but you definitely have my attention now.”

Carol takes a sip of the too strong coffee and grimaces. “No wonder Pepper didn't want you to have a coffee machine down here, this stuff could eat rust!”

That sombers Tony, who puts down his own mug and sits heavily down on a couch that doesn't belong to a workshop, but stands here proudly, right in the middle of the room.

“Keeps me going,” he says with a bitter smile. “Out of interest, have you interrogated everyone od it's just me you decided to examine more carefully?”

The change of mood is so sudden that only the years of practice allows Carol to stay composed.

She squints her eyes. “Don't flatter yourself, you are not that special.I like knowing the people that I need to work with.”

Tony, surprisingly, smiles hearing that. “You might have heard otherwise but contrary to popular opinion I know that” He takes another sip of the coffee, never taking his eyes from Carol, who waits patiently. “Listen… I was told that I don’t play well with others. Which is only partially true, by the way, I play all good and nice when I get the same in return, but…” He shakes his head. Carol can feel the distrust between him and captain Rogers, though they are both trying hard not to show it. The reports she has read confirm that there’s a lot be worked on. “To be honest, none of us does, or rather did, because after all of this,” Tony gestures around. “Well, we'll be damned if we lose because somebody wanted to be more important. We cannot fuck this up, Carol. Not this time.”

The desperation in his voice is clear. It's a tone of a man that is prepared to do anything to achieve the goal.

“Today after dinner, we will need you present there.” Carol stands up. “It's time to act.”

 

***

 

Tony is there, refusing to eat, even though Pepper looks like she could explode any second now. He is nursing the same mug Carol saw earlier today, though it cannot be filled with the same coffee. Tony drinks it, grimaces and drinks again, looking too pale and vaguely ill. Pepper shakes her head but stops trying to take it away from him, having failed a couple of time already. 

Brunhilde is observing him as well, with squinted eyes, barely eating herself. When everything is done, finally, she stands up and gives a slight nod to Carol, who breathes out deeply, feeling relieved.

Tony said yes, despite her predictions.

“There’s one place in our galaxy where all the missing things and people go,” Valkyries starts without preamble. “I’ve lived there for 124 years, enough to learn that.”

Thor moves slightly at that, a nervous shift in his seat. 

“If the gauntlet kept in Odin's vault survived,” Brunhilde continues, taking a quick glance at Thor, whose eyes are focused at some undistinguished point over Valkyrie’s right arm. “It will be on Saakar, in Grandmaster’s possession.” 

“Wait a second, lady,” Rocket jumps on the table, tripping over his glass. Carol catches the startled look on Tony’s face with a corner of her eye, Pepper leaning toward him. “You say that the gauntlet that can carry the Infinity Stones is laying somewhere in the galaxy’s scrap-heap?”

Brunhilde shakes her head. “If it does still exist, it’s not simply laying around. Grandmaster would never allow such a precious thing to disappear. There’s special system that allows to filtrate through the useless and precious, and an Infinity Gauntlet is beyond precious. Beyond anything Grandmaster might have came in possession before.”

Tony puts the mug on the table, with a hand that trembles enough to spill some coffee in the process. He rubs the stain on his shirt absentmindedly, before speaking up.

“How can we know that this Grandmaster is still alive? Thanos didn’t really make a conscious choice, the Snap could have killed anyone.”It is a valid question, Carol muses. This plan has already lots of flaws and is based on a faith in his survival.

“He is alive,” Thor surprises everyone. He barely speaks nowadays, focuses on training with his new hammer, that already caused several power outages. “He comes from the Elders of the Universe. Even Thanos cannot affect their fates.”

Rogers stands up, and Carol can’t contain her impatience. He’s a natural born leader but Carol knows he will protest against the team they’re going to propose, try to convince everyone he should be the one to fly through the unknown, that he’s unimportant and thus can risk his life.

“Not everyone can go,” he says and to Carol’s surprise turns to look first at Tony and then at her. “Who do you see on that team?”

One look at Tony confirms that she should spare him the talking. “We were discussing it with Brunhilde before the meeting, as well as those that we think appropriate for the task. We have chosen Brunhilde, Nebula and Tony.”

“Tony?” Steve looks as if somebody struck him in the face, before he regains his composure. “Why?” His tone is demanding almost and not for the first time Carol wonders what truly occurred during their fight in Siberia. 

“Because we need someone who can calculate the trajectory of the flight that can free us from living on Sakaar for the rest of our lives,” Brunhilde explains with one eyebrow raised in the universal “that’s a stupid question” look. “Heavy armor and extraordinary fighting abilities are just a cherry on the top.”

Steve turns to Stark, who is leaning toward Pepper, as if seeking for comfort. Carol can practically sense how much he hates every second of this meeting. Both Valkyrie and Nebula warned Carol that might happen, having time to recognize Tony’s fears and phobias. They did have discussions, lots of them, but Sakaar’s location left them with no choice on that matter. This team needed one of three people able to get them safely out of the planet. Bruce was defenceless, his inability to turn into Hulk being a disadvantage they couldn’t look past. Their last choice would try to steal half of the planet in the process. Despite his determination Brunhilde ruled out Rocket after his offhand attempt to steal her short sword. 

Stark was their only choice. 

Tony and Steve looks at each other for a moment, before Stark finally composes himself enough to join the standing party.

“There’s no other way,” he says carefully. “We cannot leave Earth alone, in case… “ He clears his throat. “Bruce is working on the Stones. He’ll need the helping hand of Rocket. And I… I will join them, once we’re back.”

It’s hard to say for Carol whether Rogers believes that, or makes a conscious choice to show he believes in Tony. Either way, he doesn’t protest further, sitting down, shaking his head slightly. 

The silence is deafening, until Rocket jumps on the table again, this time throwing a knife to the floor. 

“So, in case anyone wonders, our baby is ready to fly,” he says grinning. “We just finished with her yesterday. Gave her a new name, actually.” He smiles even further, teeth all sharp. “Her name is  _ Hope _ .”


	6. Chapter 6

Pepper wakes up to the sound of retching coming from the toilet. For a moment she blinks, confused. Has Tony got violently drunk again?

Reality washes over her a second later and she sprints from the bed, grabbing only her phone to check the time.

4 AM.

Still five hours left before the planned take off of the  _ Hope _ .

Tony groans as she enters the toilet, spitting miserably into the ceramic bowl. Despite Pepper’s efforts he survived most of the last two days almost exclusively on black coffee. He’s paying the price for that right now, as he dry heaves, coughing and groaning. 

“Tony,” once upon a time Pepper would be disgusted by this picture. Now she just felts sad. “You should have woken me up.”

Tony breathes heavily for a moment. “So you could listen the amazing sounds I’m making?” his voice is hoarse, tired. “Pep,” he sighs. “It took you forever to fall asleep, I didn’t want to wake you up.”

He flushes the water and stands up, his balance slightly off. Pepper comes closer, automatically making circling movements on his covered in sweat back. He’s pale, his eyes too red. Not ready. Not in five hours, not in fifty.

Pepper doubts he’ll be ever ready to go back, to leave the Earth’s atmosphere without feeling the overwhelming panic.  

She caresses him as he washes his teeth, spitting with disgust. There’s blood in the saliva and Pepper very pointedly doesn’t think where it came from. 

She maneuvers him through the room, leading to the bed. As he lays down, she grabs a small trash bin from the corner of the room and puts it closer to the bed. 

“I’m sorry,” Tony breathes, barely audible. 

Pepper embraces him silently, loosely enough so he can easily escape it, should the need arise, but strongly enough so he doesn’t feel alone. There’s an internal tremble in her body, she needs to focus not to let herself shake, not to show Tony how terrified she is.

The moment he told her about Valkyrie’s request… Pepper felt herself going pale and had to sit down for a moment. Tony was in even worse shape, balancing between full blown panic attack and nervous energy. 

He’s tense in her arms, trembling slightly, his skin cold. They won’t get much sleep that night, Pepper knows that, so she keeps him, warming him with her own body until he finally stops shaking and relaxes in her embrace. 

“I’ll come back,” he murmurs into her ear at one point. “I promise.”

Pepper tries with all her might to believe it.

 

***

_ Back in black _

_ I hit the sack _

_ I've been too long I'm glad to be back _

 

Is blasting from the sound system Tony has installed on  _ Hope.  _ Rocket was positively dumbstruck with awe because of those speakers, a last-moment addition of Tony’s invention. “Quill would kill for that,” Rocket announced after seeing the music collection uploaded to the ship’s computer and spent an hour searching for all the songs Quill used to play to them during their journeys. 

To Tony’s surprise neither Valkyrie nor Nebula protests against music roaring through the ship, with epicenter on the deck. Nebula even seems to be slightly moving her leg in the rhythm, which fascinates Tony to no end.

All in all space travel is boring. Tony is so surprised by this reflection that he almost speaks it aloud. The lack of imminent death threat followed by panic fear for the love of his life might have something to do with that. He idly plays with the design of Mark 85, unable to fully focus on it, too tired and too wired at the same time. 

Nebula is observing him from her second pilot’s seat, routinely checking the course and oxygen and fuel levels. The flight is smooth, _Hope_ more than ready to fly through the galaxy after all the upgrades given to her by Rocket and Tony. 

Valkyrie,  _ Brunhilde, _ Tony corrects himself, not used to her real name, has disappeared into her cabin right after the take off. Tony knows that there’s a lot of history hiding behind her exile on Sakaar but doesn’t want to pressure her into confessions. As long as she is able to hold herself together,Tony won’t say a word. He has way too heavy baggage himself to complain about other people’s past. 

He checks the comm links, with relief seeing that the enhancements Tony has copied from Carol’s pager is still connecting them easily with Earth. The need to speak with Pepper is overwhelming for a moment, but he stops himself for making the call. It’s middle of the night, Pepper is hopefully asleep, reassured by their conversation from a couple of hours ago. 

 

_ Well, I'm back, back _

_ Well, I'm back in black _

_ Yes, I'm back in black _

 

Brian Johnson signs hoarsely. Tony sighs, and lowers the volume down, turning to Nebula.

“Have you ever been to Sakaar?” he closes the hologram with Mark 85 design. The small changes he still wants to introduce to the design are too intricate to work on them while he’s so distracted. Trying to fix the inevitable mistakes would take too much time.

To his surprise Nebula doesn’t seem to mind his question.

“No,” she shakes her head. “I did not follow Thanos to this planet, knowing how hard it is to leave this place.”

Tony frowns. “Thanos travelled to Sakaar? I thought he’d rather leave out the Elders of the Universe from his big scheme.”

“He did,” Brunhilde’s hair a little messy as if she spent some time wriggling in the bed. “Up until the moment Grandmaster was given the Mind Stone to keep it safe.”

Tony snorts. “Based on what I know not the type of person I’d trust with one of the most powerful artifacts that has ever existed.”

Brunhilde stretches and leans on Nebula’s seat, her hand brushing lightly Nebula’s side, who doesn’t look bothered by this.

“He wasn’t that bad of a guardian, actually. Until he realized how powerful the Stones are. Thanos already had two of the Stones collected at that time and decided to pay Grandmaster a visit. They dueled for the Mind Stone, betting on the rest of them that Thanos has already collected.”

“What happened?” Tony wasn’t aware of this part of the story. No wonder that Valkyrie believes that the gauntlet is in possession of the Grandmaster.

“Thanos won.” Brunhilde shrugs.”I’ve heard stories about the duel once I woke up, saw the traces of it all around the city. You know the rest of the Mind Stone history better than I, having taken part in it.”

She leans over Nebula to check the route and the estimated time of arrival.

“I suggest you suit up, Stark. The storytime is over, we’re arriving earlier than expected.”

Tony raises one eyebrow and gently taps the housing unit, allowing the nanotechnology to cover his body with a gold and red of the armor. 

“Impressive,” Valkyrie acknowledges with a slight nod. Tony grins like a kid hearing a compliment from a mythical warrior, covered under the ever-existing scowl of Iron Man’s helmet, and deactivates the armor that slides smoothly back to the housing unit. 

“We’ll land at night,” Nebula stood up as well and is checking the sharpness of one of her blades. Her face is emotionless but Tony knows that under the blue skin she is vibrating with energy. Ready to kill in her sister’s name. 

“Good,” Brunhilde stands up, lazily, and Stark cannot help but think that at least part of this apparent peace is a facade, covering how stressed she is by this come back. “We’re landing in 30 minutes.”

 

***

 

The first thing Tony notices is the smell. Even through the filters of his helmet he can detect the strong odour things that have been left to rot, mold and decompose in all possible ways. 

“Does it smell that bad everywhere?” He asks incredulously, letting Friday change the settings of the filtering system. Valkyrie shrugs, seemingly unaffected. 

“The main buildings in the city have their own filtering systems. Plus, you can get used to it.”

She walks slowly, circling and omitting bigger heaps of trash. Tony quickly checks the shielding system built into  _ Hope _ and activates the GPS chip that will lead them back to their ship, should they get lost. He joins Brunhilde and Nebula, grimacing at the sticky sound his boots make. He’ll need to decontaminate his suit after they leave this planet. 

The silence surrounding them is overwhelming, making Tony shiver, as he turns around, expecting an attack any given moment. The sudden movement on his right almost makes him shoot the blaster; he stops himself, recognizing a huge rat-like creature as the source of the noise.

“Easy,” Brunhilde murmurs quietly. “We don’t need explosions to announce our arrival.”

They go through the rest of the dump, seemingly unnoticed, except for a couple more local rats and a huge cat that could easily tear apart a doberman. As they cross the line between the dump and the city, Tony deactivates the suit, the gold and red too noticeable, making it impossible to blend into the local crowd.

The buildings around them are getting higher, switching from slumses to proper flats, when they run out of luck. 

_ One person, five o’clock _ , Friday reports in Tony’s ear.

“Stop!” the voice sounds a little panicked, as if the owner was unsure how to proceed.  _ Fuck _ , Tony freezes, ready to activate the armor. The panicked ones are always trigger happy. Both Nebula and Brunhilde seem to know this little truth about people’s nature, as they move slowly, with open arms toward the source of the voice.

He’s very young, Tony recognizes despite the unhuman features. He hopes he won’t be forced to kill a fucking boy even before they have reached a city centre.

“What are you doing here at this time?” His voice is shaking slightly. “It’s over ten!” The weird shrill his voice goes into is either a race thing, or he hasn’t finished the voice mutation yet and Tony groans inwardly. He keeps silent, afraid that even the quietest sound could trigger the boy, who is clearly point his gun at Tony.

“I know,” Brunhilde shots a quick glance at Tony, who nods his head minutely. Admitting the mistake and apologizing might save their assess and this boy’s life. “We... “ She pauses for a second. “We lost track of time,” she finally finishes, sounding more certain with every uttered word. “We wanted to stay the hole night at that brothel but they kicked us out after our money has ended,” she laughs, a low, husky sound. “You know how it is in those places, don’t you?” She comes a little closer to the boy, who has changed his color from green to purple. Tony suspects he’s blushing furiously. Brunhilde takes another step and smiles seductively. “You go there with you friends, just for two hours and end up drinking the Earth champagne from your best friend’s navel.”

“We are heading home,” Nebula has never seemed so alive, her face lighten with all kinds of emotions. Tony had no idea she is even capable of showing so many of them at the same time. She half-smacks, half-caresses Brunhilde’s arm. “To continue what we started. Don’t we, darling?” Nebula turns to Tony, who has never been in a situation as unreal as this one, but shows his teeth in a predatory smile, playing the role as easily as if they were having a threesome for the past couple of hours. 

“We have a place for a fourth one,” he adds, hoping this blushing boy is indeed as innocent as it looks. That seems to be the charm, as the boy lowers his gun and backtracks.

“You… you can go. Just don’t wander around the streets.” 

“Oh, we won’t,” Brunhilde sighs. “We’re in hurry, after all.”

Tony breathes deeply in relief and takes his hand from the housing unit.

“That was…” he grins. “Brunhilde, you are a genius.”

She doesn’t have enough time to respond before Friday speaks up again.

_ A group of five, 50 meters, one o’clock. Armed. _

Shit.

Tony taps the housing unit before he can make a conscious decision. 

“Incoming, five people, armed,” he repeats unnecessarily. Both Nebula and Brunhilde are linked to Friday. One glance at the group tells Tony they won’t be able to bullshit their way out of this. Here comes the end of the “stealth” mode. 

“Stop!” the dragon-like person practically roars. “You are breaking the law number 23 and 77 which is punishable by death. Drop your guns.”

If Tony had any doubts whether they should fight, they disappear right this moment. 

“By death?” he repeats. It’s a pity they cannot see his smile right now. Tony bets it’s scary as fuck. “No, thanks, we’d rather keep our guns with ourselves.”

He feels the rush of adrenaline coming through his body as the dragon-like attacks, shooting with no warning from a huge plasma gun. Tony swears. He hoped the fight could at least stay quiet, but their opponents have different ideas. 

He dodges the shot but lets himself be surprised by unexpected blow coming from a huge woman with four arms. Mark 85 does a marvelous job suppressing the blow as Tony attacks himself, barely registering Nebula’s jumping next to him, her two blades already covered in blood.

“Tony,” Brunhilde sounds peaceful in his ear, as if she wasn’t sparring with one of the guardians right this moment, her short sword sparking slightly.”Don’t let them throw a net on you.”

_ Fuck it _ .

The shoot from a blaster creates a crater in the dragon-men body, the green blood and fragments of the intestines covering most of the surroundings, which is just great, alien blood and guts, Tony loves both. Armor decontamination becomes a priority.

He catches a movement with his peripheral vision and turns slightly to realize it’s one of the four hands, flying through the air, cut by Nebula. This moment of lack of focus almost costs him freedom; the net Brunhilde warned him against flying towards him. He shots, but misses it  by mere millimeters.

Nebula jumps, two blades in her extend hands. They cut the net in half and Tony breathes, finally using the thrusters. One shot at Brunhilde’s opponent ends the fight, as he goes down with gaping hole in his chest.

The odour of blood in the air is strong, both familiar and alien. Tony grimaces, feeling nauseous. 

“All good?” he murmurs through the comms, checking the surroundings. Their little fight couldn’t go unnoticed.

Both Nebula and Brunhilde confirms, cleaning their blades from the mixed blood expertly. Nebula grins, a predatory smile that makes Tony even happier to have her on their side.

_ Mr. Stark, there’s entire army coming at you, _ Friday warns.  _ I calculated at least thirty men. _

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Tony has hoped for more time. 

“Well, ladies,” he makes the helmet disappear for a moment so he can grins at them. “It’s a showtime.”

 

_ Living easy, living free _

_ Season ticket on a one-way ride _

 

Blasts from the speakers in his suit as the first Grandmaster’s guardian shots at them. 

  
  
  
  
  



	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I short one, before Easter. I have to warn you that this story is unxpectedly visiting very dark areas, and while for the moment everything is implied it can get triggering - please read all the tags carefully.  
> I'm also overwhelmed by the amount of kudos received for the last two chapters. Thank you so much, you are amazing. Don't be afraid to leave a comment, I love talking to the readers, I want to hear your thoughts, opinions, I'm happy to scream about the fact I'm gonna is Avengers: Endgame on Wednesday.
> 
> Happy Holidays!

The handcuffs are too tight and Brunhilde’s hands are slowly going numb. The guardian leading her got a little carried away  after she broke his colleague’s nose with her elbow and made sure she won’t be able to make a slightest movement. Nebula is being lead right next to her, sporting an impressively bleeding cut on her check.  She looks like the embodiment of fury itself, her eyes flashing with anger, every single muscle tensed, prepared to attack. 

She’s beautiful like that, reminding Brunhilde of her lost sisters in arms.

She breathes deeply, forcing herself not to think about  _ that _ . All her focus is needed; no dwelling on the past is allowed. There’s too many unknowns and dependents in their plan to allow oneself a moment of distraction.

_ It’s time for plan B _ , Stark has shouted at them. Valkyrie could sense his uneasiness caused by the killings, but he was right - Plan A failed, it wasn’t possible to get to Grandmaster without alerting half of the city.

Even though aware that being lead handcuffed to Grandmaster was a part of her own plan, Brunhilde hated every second of it. They’ve killed enough people to be noticed by Grandmaster, maybe even route some of his attention from Valkyrie to Nebula and Stark, and if there’s anything that Brunhilde is sure of when it comes to Grandmaster is that he likes being interested. Once someone catches his interest, he tries to break them. If he succeeds, he would make them his pets. 

And Grandmaster’s pets have a lot of freedom. Enough to explore those parts of residence that are normally locked. Maybe even enough to find and still a powerful artifact that might be hidden somewhere around there.

Brunhilde stops the shiver that threatens to overwhelm her. She despises this plan, the danger they are putting themselves into but sees no alternatives.

Stark is somewhere behind here, armorless, the nanotechnology hidden, hopefully safely, in the housing unit. Staying in the suit, Stark was risking someone trying to rip it off but Brunhilde cannot stop the anxiety; Stark without his suit is so much weaker than those who lead them.

Nebula still looks as if she could explode, taking part of the city down with her.

The city around them is empty, and if anyone is observing them through the windows, they make sure to go unnoticed. Whatever terror Grandmaster had introduced, he has all the inhabitants following his orders. 

They are getting closer, the familiar surroundings of Grandmaster’s residence making Brunhilde swallow nervously. She’s been there so many times, bringing yet another unfortunate creature that could be thrown to the stadium for people to cheer and watch as they bleed and die a horrible, alone death. 

The lack of alcohol induced haze makes it feel like a nightmare. Yet another item on the list of things that cannot be forgotten or forgiven. 

She hears a low groan coming from the behind. 

Stark.

She tries to see him as they split into different elevators but catches only the sight of his black shirt, hears Nebula’ snarl at being pushed unceremoniously, and the door closes. 

 

***

 

Grandmaster smiles. 

“Scrapper 142, you came back,” his voice is filled with fake joy. “With gifts, I assume?”

Brunhilde braces herself. 

_ Let him think he can break you, but don’t make it to easy. _

The question what Grandmaster is prepared to do in order to break her remains open.

“They are not gifts,” her voice is cold. 

Grandmaster raises one eyebrow. “What a shame.” he comments, slowly descending the stairs and walking toward Stark. Brunhilde can hear him make an involuntary step back. He slowly traces the housing unit with his fingers; Stark’s gaze is murderous, his whole body tense with a need to act and get away from this touch. 

“He doesn’t seem too impressive,” Grandmaster observes, but his eyes are fixed on the faint glow of the unit. 

“I wouldn’t judge so hastily, if I were you,” Stark positively growls, the fury in his voice barely contained. 

“Oh,” Grandmaster’s smile is real now. “Feisty. I like it.”

Brunhilde shivers. No, no, no, she didn’t expect that, didn’t actually know Grandmaster could go this way.

Tony makes some unintelligible sound, his eyes wide. 

“Talking about feisty… How is Loki doing?” Grandmaster is still looking at Tony, measuring him with hi eyes.”He was one of my favourite pets, it was such a shame that you and his brother had to come and destroy everything.”

Valkyries has seen the fall of all her sisters in arms. Saw her beloved dropping from the sky in the rain of blood drops, killed by the goddess of death herself. 

Grandmaster’s words still freeze her to the bones. 

“It’s not your concern,” Tony grites through his teeth. 

“Well,” Grandmaster finally steps away from him, to Valkyrie’s immeasurable relief. “He is replaceable. Like everyone.”

He takes a long look at Nebula, but does not come closer, seemingly uninterested.

“Take them away,” he orders, gesturing toward Brunhilda and Nebula. “Put them as far away from each other as possible. Do not use the same elevator and check them twice for any hidden weapons. Scrapper 142, welcome back to Sakaar.”

Elevator's door slides closed, leaving Brunhilde hopeless. Grandmaster didn’t take the bait. She was certain he’d want to bath in a revenge for taking away the Hulk and Thor from him, but he has chosen someone else. Someone whose sanity is already hanging on the edge, holding by the tips of the fingers only. 

Brunhilde evaluates her chances; the handcuffs - still too tight, with virtually impenetrable lock. Her hands are completely numb at this point, she would need at least a couple of minutes to be able to use them as efficiently as she usually does. There are three guards with her in the elevator, all of them strong enough to snap her neck, should there was a need and a possibility to do that. 

All she can do is wait.

Wait and see.

_ Take care of him, you both, _ Pepper said to them, right before the start,  _ Promise me that he will comeback.  _

The unspoken “unchanged” hanged in the air. 

They promised, and now Brunhilde is going to break yet another promise. 

At least they unlock the handcuffs before throwing her into the small cell, with nothing but bed and a bin in it. 

She rubs her hands, trying to get the blood back to them. Thankfully, they haven’t noticed the microscopic communication device Tony has built for them when they searched for any hidden weapons. Brunhilde activates it now, hoping that Nebula was able to do the same. 

“I haven’t had the pleasure of having a proper human before,” Grandmaster sounds as if he was just a meter away. Tony was somehow able to activate his set as well, Valkyrie realizes with sickening feeling. Whatever happens to him, she’ll be able to hear it. “You don’t really travel that far, don’t you.”

Brunhilde can hear Tony’s labored breathing. In and out, in and out, the pace raising.

“Tony,” she whispers into his ear. Sharp breath intake tell her he can hear her as well, as she can hear him. “We’re fine, we’ll figure it out.”

“Of course,” Nebula’s emotionless voice is the most beautiful sound in the world. “Tony, you need to breath. In…. and out.”

She guides him through the breathing until his pace won’t make him pass out any given moment, and Brunhilde realizes that they had to do it before, during those weeks they drifted through the space, with no hope of survival. 

“How,” Grandmaster is even closer now. A faint metallic sound accompanies his words. “Do you take it off?”

“I don’t,” Tony’s might be panicking inside, but doesn’t allow himself to sound anything else than indifferent, bored almost. 

Brunhilde is pretty sure that the housing unit Grandmaster is referencing to can be taken off, even though Tony doesn’t seem to be moving anywhere without it. 

Grandmaster laughs. “You don’t need to say anything, I have specialists that will take it off.”

The next  Grandmaster’s words are muffled as Tony whispers over them.

“Don’t do anything stupid. I got this.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Dearest! Thank you so much for all the kind comments and kudos, it's such a great motivator to seat down and force my brain to change the draft in my head into writing. I really wanted to finish this chapter before watching Endgame (it's tomorrow! 7 PM sharp!) because I suspect it might have a great influence over my writing abilities (aka: leave me shattered and unable to write a single coherent sentence).  
> There is torture in this chapter so please be prepared for that.  
> As always, I welcome every type of feedback and love all of you, my wonderful readers.

Tony tries with all his might not to hyperventilate.

PTSD sucks, especially when you keep on getting into triggering situations. Tony imagines Pepper, the sad smile she wears when trying to comfort the anxiety, her steady and slow breathing, and attempts to copy it.

The housing unit is easy to take off. A simple click and push mechanism, definitely not a quantum physics, in a clear contrast to the science standing behind its creation. It would take Tony a couple of seconds to get it off his chest, just a touch on the papillary lines reader.

There are only three other people that have this power, their papillary lines recognized by the software.

Pepper.

Rhodey.

And Peter Parker. 

Tony couldn't force himself to delete those last ones after Titan, after the Snap, so he carefully omitted this particular part of the software as he was working on the latest upgrades for the suit.

Peter didn't know he was given this power - Tony was planning to have him over for a dinner, show him the design, explain all the how to’s and finally reveal this little detail. He knew the smile Peter would give him, the one that accompanied each gesture of trust from Tony's side, filled with such a joy that Tony sometimes felt like giving him everything just to see it more often. Everything was planned so carefully, with May’s consent already given. 

And then Tony's six years nightmare came true as the Children of Thanos appeared on Earth. 

He feels naked and helpless, stripped off his shirt and handcuffed to a weird chair that belongs in a horror movie about dentistry. One of Grandmaster's “specialist”, a long-legged human alike with grey skin, is checking the unit, quite obviously completely at loss as for its purpose, let alone its removal. His long fingers are tracing it and Tony has a strange feeling that he is able to gather information through the tips of the fingers.

He tries not to shiver, as it pleases Grandmaster, and Tony would be damned if he did anything pleasing for this creature, not yet.

At least Nebula and Brunhilde are uninjured and seem to be relatively safe for now; at least as long as Tony remains in the center of Grandmaster’s interest.

In his head a new plan is coming to life, built around the same principles as the previous one - Grandmaster's love to destroy people and making them into his “pets”.

Only this time this role will be played by Tony. 

He hates it, makes him feel sick to the very core. He’s seen the interest in Grandmaster’s eyes, and knows what it means, what the Elder is expecting. Thankfully, he’s still got some time left; Grandmaster won’t risk trying anything as long as Tony has the suit available, and he’s not giving up on it yet. He needs more time, to make sure he’ll play the part convincingly enough, to gain the trust they need so desperately to search for the gauntlet.

_ That might not be here at all. Most likely isn’t, vaporized during Asgard destruction.  _

Tony closes his eyes. 

_ Whatever happens, it’s for Peter, and that makes it worth the greatest suffering.  _

The grey skinned alien pulls on the unit, hard enough to make Tony hiss with pain. The earpiece comes to live immediately, Nebula's voice soothing in a way Tony never expected it to be.

He can't respond, though, not wanting to reveal their connection, and focuses on breathing through the pain. The alien resigns once the skin around the housing unit gets red with irritation. 

“I’m supposed not to disfigure you, but it doesn’t mean that I cannot make you hurt,” he leans closer to Tony, who instinctively draws back, only to be stopped by the handcuffs. He catches Grandmaster’s gaze; intent, focused entirely on Tony and his reactions.

It is a showtime, again. A different stage, a different role to play, maybe the most difficult one yet, but Tony can, has to do it.

His heartbeat is going crazy, as long needles penetrate the top of his fingers. Tony loathes how weak and desperate he feels, how he focuses on the fact that giving up on the housing unit is part of the plan.

The pain starts suddenly, starting in the tips of the fingers and going in a long wave through his body, like an electric shock. Every nerves ending gets stimulated with it and the world around him blacks out for a moment.

After third wave the pain starts as quickly and unexpectedly as it started, leaving Tony covered in sweat and gasping for breath.

“Powerful for a small device, isn’t it?” Grandmaster’s smile is knowing, as he leans closer and gives the housing unit a gentle tap. “You can never go through it again, just help us get rid of this annoying thing.”

Tony shakes his head, unsure whether his voice will work.

“What a shame, I don’t want you to get too tired because all of this,” Grandmaster sighes and gestures at his subordinate.

Tony knows what to expect, but it doesn’t make the pain any lesser or easier to bear. After second way he no longer can stop the urge to scream, hears Brunhilde and Nebula going crazy with anxiety.

Just a moment longer, to give Grandmaster his satisfaction, to make him believe Tony is breaking.

He loses count, the pain becoming a constant rather than separate waves, the setting of the device must have been changed to higher ones. 

Black is creeping on the edge of his vision, and he doesn’t fight it, knowing the sweet release of losing consciousness, remembering it from Afghanistan. He quickly learnt that there is nothing shameful in giving up to them, allowing the body to stop fighting.

He doesn’t struggle against it this time as well.

 

_ “Mr. Stark?”  _

_ This voice, so familiar and impossible. It cannot be. _

_ “Peter,” Tony breathes. “Kid.” _

_ Has he gone mad? Was this torture a step too far, a reason for a descend into a complete madness?  _

_ “Mr. Stark, are you really here?”  _

_ The darkness around him finally gives up to an orange light. Tony turns around; emptiness surrounds him, bathed in the intense orange light with no apparent source. _

_ He blinks and Peter appears in front of him, his hair disheveled. He’s wearing his suit, looking exactly like seconds before he turned into dust, and Tony almost chokes. _

_ It’s crazy and he should be worried that his brain is able to create such a hallucination but he just looks, taking in the sight of Peter standing in front of him. _

_ “Mr. Stark?” the kid is staring at him, his eyes wide and then he throws himself at Tony, embracing him hard enough to hurt. “You are here!” _

_ Tony hugs him back, instinctively. It’s insane how real he feels under his touch, the surface of the suit sleek, his breath warm and a little shaky. _

_ “Mr. Stark am I dead? Are you dead? Should Heaven be that orange and empty?”  _

_ Tony can’t stop himself from a chuckle. This hallucination, or whatever it is… It sounds exactly like the kid did, rushing through the questions with no pause for answers.  _

_ He shouldn’t be finding comfort in that; a dangerous path to take that cannot end well but he force himself to stop holding on the kid with all his might. _

_ “Peter…” _

 

He opens his eyes to the cold interiors of Grandmaster’s property, confused, still feeling the warmth of Peter’s body under his fingers. Grandmaster is looking at him, and Tony tries to ground himself into reality but parts of him is still in the orange desolation, with the kid.

“He’s fine,” the alien reports anxiously. “No lasting damage.”

Grandmaster nods his head, still staring at Tony, with a concern of an owner of a valuable possession that got damaged. He wants Tony to be funcional, and Tony cannot let himself get any more nerve damages if they’re gonna make it from this planet in one piece.

“You can have it,” he rasps. He must have been scream a lot more than he realizes, his throat sore and dry. “You just need to let me use my left hand to remove it.”

The alien looks doubtful but he follows the Grandmaster’s command. The skin on Tony’s wrist is red and lacerated and Grandmaster catches it, just for a second, tracing the longest cut with his finger, before letting it go.

Tony swallows through the sudden nausea and slowly unblocks the mechanism.

He hasn’t felt that naked and helpless since he woke up during impromptu heart surgery in Afghanistan.   

“Perfect.” Grandmaster comments. “Take him to the rooms on the second floor.”

 

***

 

Tony expected a cell, but instead he’s greeted by a sight of luxurious and sizable apartment. The guards activated a force barrier between the room and the corridor but they took the handcuffs off Tony’s hand. Apparently he is free to move around the apartment as he pleases.

The spherical disc they attached to his neck hums quietly when he gets close to the barrier. They are connected; with enough time at his hand Tony should be able to figure out the connection and be able to deactivate it.

There are three rooms in total. Tony freezes for a moment, looking at the huge bed that takes most of the space in one of them.

There are no apparent cameras anywhere but he doesn’t risk it; as much as he hates the idea of Grandmaster catching in the shower, it’s the only place in the whole apartment that guarantees not being heard.

He removes the drenched in sweat clothes and opens the tap, barely avoiding getting hit with the stream of water in his head.

He suppresses a shiver. He can’t go back to Afghanistan, not now, there’s too many on his plate anyway.

He needs to be able to play his part and do it convincingly enough, while not allowing Grandmaster to do everything he pleases to - a seemingly unachievable goal. What he’s gone through no more than half an hour ago proves that Grandmaster is more than capable of exploring any possible weaknesses to get what he wants. Navigating between that and his sanity is starting to look impossible. 

There is also the hallucination… Tony shakes his head. He cannot think about it now. One step at the time.

“Nebula, Brunhilde,” he whispers. They both were getting more and more anxious over the last couple of hours.

“Tony,” there’s a relief in Nebula’s voice. “What did they do?”

Tony lets hims slide down and sits on the cold floor of the shower, the adrenaline rush replaced with exhaustion. 

“They wanted the housing unit of the suit,” he explains, eyes closed. Peter’s face, bathed in the strange orange light appears for a moment in front of him. “Brunhilde, we are going with your plan but with reversed roles.”

Brunhilde is silent for a second. 

“I am sorry,” she murmurs, earnestly. “What floor are you on?”

“Second,” Tony reaches and changes the water’s temperature to a higher one. He’s getting colder with every passing second. “It looks like an apartment.”

“It is an apartment,” Brunhilde confirms. “The cameras should be only in the living room, at least that’s where they were before. He always used if for his favourite…”

The unspoken “pets” hangs in the air for a moment. Tony swallows, the picture of enormous bed appearing before his eyes.

“I kind of figured that out.”

“We are both underground,” Nebula interrupts his train of thoughts. “Our cells are protected by a force field that reacts to those chips on our necks.”

“It’s the same in here,” Tony feels his eyes closing against his will. It must be showing in his voice as Valkyrie commands him to get some rest. 

Tony very consciously avoids the bed, choosing one of the armchairs - comfortable enough to make it possible to sleep, but not enough to make him miss if anyone enters the apartment. 

In his dreams Peter Parker turns in dust in his arms. 

  
  



End file.
